Rail Transit Network
The Rail Transit Network (formerly Rural Transit Network), abbreviated RT or RTN, is the first transit network on the server, consisting of a network of minecart rail tracks that extends outward from Unterganger City into the periphery of lands outside the chunk border. There are currently nine lines under RT: * South Line, the oldest line * East Line, the second line * North Line * West Line * Templer Line * Outer Line * Airport Express Line * Loop Line * Random Line The first four lines, the Airport Line and the Loop Line start off at RT Central (Previously the UCS and UCT, both of which stood on the same spot). Many stations on the lines serve to provide access to various NPC Villages and temples around the server. Later on new towns replaced NPC villages as the catalyst for RT line development. The Rail Transit Network was developed jointly by Molster and MTM, but but eventually Molster maintained and expanded the Rail Transit network himself. Since Molster was banned, RDPIsOnCrack has assumed the role of the Rail Transit Network's maintainer, and started laying tracks on his own. kimilil started partially (as and where needed) assuming control in August 2018. Owing to the history of the RTN, it has a myriad of conventions and designs including but not limited to several types of station platforms, halts that serve only request stops, varying levels of build standards, and sometimes left-hand side travel direction. Lines South Line The South Line is the first and oldest stretch of tracks in the Rail Transit Network. The line currently consists of double tracked rails from RT Central through Southville Station and southward to Raja Bomoh, Ako Whostapha (Who's Ville/Swmpus) and Garfield where it terminates andf interchanges with the Express Lily Line. It is planned for the line to assume and extend the TransCon South line past Garfield southward, ultimately terminating at the southern Woodland Mansion. The oldest and original stretch of the line was laid by MTM from his house to 20EuroCent. Subsequent work was done by Molster and kimilil. Carts on the South line going down can transfer to the Templer Line towards Tagor West and Weston at Southville and Waldon Forest stations, respectively. East Line The East Line is the second of nine lines under the Rail Transit Network. The line connects the center of Unterganger City via RT Central, Luminosity, Saltshore, and Sallosh in the center of the server to Eston Post, Eston International, Saint Piggersburg, Nogaybak, and Tagor to the west at Region 56. North Line The North Line is the third line on the network. Formerly stretching north to Negusville and then turning eastward to Cowville, the current line currently only connects RTC and Baldaqua with planned terminus at Buntington. It is the shortest main line on the network to date. West Line The West Line is the fourth line under RT. It was originally built to link the city to Pajarojuares Pyramid (formerly MOTURK48 Pyramid), and then extended to the third Stronghold. The line interchanges with the subway on Bazaar Station. Templer Line The Templer Line is one of the nine lines in the network. At present, the line consists of a main double track line, with two branch lines. One of these is the old single track stretch that skirted outside Athyras, accessible from both ends at Athyras Exchange and Waldon Forest. The other line branches off the main line at Craivii-Eragoth heading towards Eydis where it terminates. At Waldon Forest and Southville stations, carts from the west and east respectively can switch track into South Line heading towards RT Central. Both ends of the line continue off as other lines of either the same or different operators. At Weston, the western end, it continues straight as CNR Peridot Line or branches into CTS Little Saigon Line. Tagor West, the eastern end, is joined end to end with the eastern end of East Line looping back towards Unterganger City. The line connects together Weston, Canabai, Athyras, Southville, Fegelein the Lost Temple, Morin Khot, Harvest, and Tagor (additionally also Espino Jungle, Eydis and Little Wonderland on the branch lines). Via its CTS and CNR extensions at Weston it also reach Little Saigon, Altholz and Levanski. The numerous branch lines and connections makes Templer Line the most complex rail line on the server. Outer Line The Outer Line is a railway loop line maintained by Rail Transit Network, surrounding the Region 55 and generally staddling the Chunk border. The line is a convenient form of transport to sightsee the chunk border pixel arts. Airport Express Line *Colour-code: *Total # of stations: 2 *Station code: A *Interchanges: none *Branch lines: none *Right hand traffic This line was built by Molster to link Unterganger City to its Airport. Stations on this line: *RT Central (terminus) *Unterganger City Airport (terminus) Loop Line The Loop Line is a line under RTN. As its name suggest, it forms a loop that connects RT Central, Unterganger City Airport, and Southville Station. The Loop line incorporated (or takes over) alignments of existing lines, as well as new alignments beside and parallel to other lines. The line has 9 stations, all of which interchange with other RT lines, and a couple with lines by other operators. The stations are numbered clockwise from RT Central. Random Line The Random Line (formerly Tudor Line) is the ninth line in the Rail Transit Network. It was named after the player Tudor, but renamed after Port Random because of the idiosyncracies of having two lines within the same network sharing the same initials. Despite its name, the line currently connects Buntington, Negusville, Lakecastle, Old Newport, Horseville, and Morioh (previously Cowville). The Port Random portion was removed, along with almost everything on Port Random itself as part of a general rebuilding. The line will have its western terminus in the new Port Random Central station. At its eastern terminus at Orchid Interchange, the line continues off as Northeast Railway's Northeast Line through physical integration of the rail lines. The only other line currently with through/transfer services is the Templer Line. Steamer Line The Steamer Line was a former line under the network, which was later taken out and made independent. It connects the North Line to Autry Plain and to Staedty86 Pyramid. As its name suggests, it is specifically designed to use furnace minecart for propulsion, and a adapter mechanism constructed on the interfacing station with the North Line. History The first tracks that would eventually become the South Line were laid by an unknown user, and then extended by MTM in the early days of the UMS. The main trunk of this single track line started from a humble terminal beside MTM's House and extended southward to 20EuroCent's Pyramid where it terminated. The line branched off in several places, connecting places such as the Cow Museum and the Courthouse in Unterganger City and the Vzorkic Pyramid via an interchange near Southville. The line to Vzorkic Pyramid further branched out to connect East Village, providing access by minecarts from the city in a somewhat roundabout fashion. During the first days of the formation of UC Subway line by Molster, the elevated track built by Hans_Krebs was extended to the station near the Cow Museum, which was rebuilt and elevated. The track to the old terminal was cut off, while the track to the courthouse was closed with the construction of the Wall. At this stage, one could take a minecart ride from the southern terminal at 20Eurocent Pyramid right up to the present-day North Station of the subway network. In Molster's Rail Development Plan, the Unterganger Central Station (UCS) was constructed in a vacant plot near DA's Castle, and the South Line was separated from the subway line (which now forms a loop) and rerouted to the UCS. Southville Station was also relocated under the Rail Development Plan. With the plan, a second line (now East Line) connected the UCS directly to East Village, and the old tracks that connected to the tracks further south near Southville was dismantled. Some stretches of the South Line were upgraded into double tracks. Much later, plans were in place to connect regions to the north (specifically the Hitler pixel art) and the Pajarojuares Pyramid (formerly MOTURK49 Pyramid) to the west to the city via rail tracks. These are now known as the North and West Lines. During construction of the North Line, three NPC villages were discovered and subsequently connected together and integrated to the North Line. For the West Line, Molster received permission to lay out tracks through the heart of the planned Athyras. These two lines were the first to be built in double tracks along almost all stretches. Problems arose with the West Line, however, firstly regarding building restriction on Athyras. The route suggested by Molster involved tracks running along the northern edges of the city which continued on the coast to the pyramid. Hans_Krebs proposed running the line underground west through the built-up areas of both cities, emerging to the surface past Athyras' Historical District and continuing on the ground through the heart of the planned Athyras expansion. Having a more direct route and permission to build through Athyras, Molster went ahead with Hans_Krebs' proposal. Major obstacles were encountered during construction because the underground areas along the route was built up with both UC Subway and Mailcart lines as well as redstone circuitry and underground rooms. A tunnel had to be built on the river bed until it passed the city border under the Wall, where construction works progressed smoothly all the way to the terminus. The UCS was expanded with more platform spaces to accommodate the two new lines. The RT network now covered the four cardinal points with lines extending out to four general directions. The four lines gradually extended. The South Line now terminates near a cabin in a taiga biome to the south. The East Line skipped East Village and ended instead at KakashiBallZ Pyramid, but this was further extended to the newly disccovered jungle temple bearing mfaizsyahmi's name, and further still to the Tower of Mabula and RBC56 Pyramid. The West Line was extended to Stronghold 3. MTM laid out tracks to the Soalric Pyramid to the far west and connected it to the South Line near Molster House. Having two branch lines on the South Line was deemed impractical to Molster, so he separated the South Line's branch lines and connected the two to form the Templer Line. The new Southville Station was built to adjust to the change. The Steamer Line protrudes from the branch of the north line that goes towards the Dolfy Face. It was built by MTM and is the only railroad that uses a Minecart with furnace instead of redstone. It stretches toward a small Wild West styled village. When returning from the village, the railroad has a switch that will put you back in the redstone rails going to the Dolfy Face. The Minecart with furnace never leaves this railway, unless used wrongfully. As of June 2014, the Steamer Line is no longer part of the RT Network (see below). On late-March 2014 the network received a major addition, with the construction of the Outer Line straddling the chunk border and forming a huge loop, as well as the Airport Express Line. On May 2014, the new Unterganger Central Terminal replaced the older building. As more and more lines were built around the server (e.g. the Polan Line and the Southwest Railway), it was decided on June 2014 that these new lines would not join the RT network, and the Steamer Line was removed from the RT network to join these independent railways. Upgrades were gradually made over the entire network. This included new and replacement stations with platforms and turnstiles, anti-backtrack mechanism in certain mob-collision prone stretches, replacing 90-degree turns with more gradual ones (by means of adding tiny diagonal stretches), and the installment of a global mob-electrocution circuit in which mobs standing on top of the tracks or riding a cart, in which the mob will get instant damage and shortly killed when in vicinity of a player (currently disabled). On 4 December the Unterganger Central Terminal was demolished to make way for a new station building(the RT Central), as well as realignment of the principal lines, and a proper headquarters building for the RTN. Realignment was completed by 6 December 2014 and RTN service was restored. With the realignment the North and South lines were merged into one continuous line, as were the East and West Lines. Sections of the lines retain their colour and station numbering schemes to reduce maintenance work on the entire network. RDPIsOnCrack's tenure as RTN maintainer saw deviation from standards as 1:1 gradients and 90° curves are used liberally. His Tudor Line (now Random Line) marks the only addition to the network that is PR-centric instead of UC-centric, likely becoming part of RT by virtue of it absorbing the majority of North Line's former alignment. The rest of the network, apart from switching travel direction, remains largely untouched over the next three years. Kimilil, assuming control over the RTN on August 2018, intends to upgrade the whole network to bring it back to speed and on par with other rail operators that has sprung up in the intervening years. This include extensions, double tracking, and interchanges to better integrate with other operators. This has been expressed with the following works: *Double tracking and extending the East Line from Sallosh to Tagor West, and upgrading almost all stations along that stretch (completed) *Double tracking and extending the Templer Line from Athyras Exchange to Tagor West, with associated station upgrades (completed) *Double tracking and extending the South Line from Southville towards Garfield (ongoing) *Double tracking the Outer Line (ongoing) *Fixing and upgrading the Random Line (partially done) *Extension of East Line to Hassenfield, Laval (Quebec district), and Fegelein **As of May 2019 work had started on Fegelein, Laval and Hassenfield *Extension of Templer Line to Exeter, Fegelein, and Falkenheim Planned works include: *Fixing and upgrading the rest of Random Line *Upgrading North Line Design The earliest network of rails adopted bog-standard Minecraft railway mechanisms. As time went on, higher build standards are sought after, such as more realistic bridges, more gradual slope and turning at corners, stations with platforms, ticket counters and turnstiles. Some parts of the network still retain older, rudimentary designs but upgrades are slowly being done to the whole network. Of note is Molster's decision to adopt left-hand traffic (LHT) on double-tracked stretches. This stems from the fact that Molster comes from Malaysia which adopted LHT from the British. This has the effect of baffling other players who come from countries that adopted right-hand traffic. (Historically, IRL railway networks built by early British engineers overseas would also typically be LHT; France, Egypt and Japan are some examples of this.) However, RDPIsOnCrack has recently converted some lines to right hand traffic, due to support from the players of the UMS. This has caused issues regarding redstoning and signage at stations. Station designs have also changed dramatically over the lifetime of the server. The earliest stations by an unknown builder resembled the one beside MTM's House. MTM's early design consisted of 1-block deep pits on the ground with buttons and exposed redstone. Molster's stations initially copied existing designs, but he later came up with his own, from Single stops with intricate rail intersections (Middle Station), modified pits (without exposed redstone, Pinhead Jennie Canyon is a station that uses this design), two side platforms connected by an overpass (KBZ Station) to one-sided bidirectional platform (Horseville), the latter of which now becoming his favourite as overpasses between platforms were eliminated. He also greatly improved on the steamer line adapter. As of October 2018, RTN recognizes both normal stations (all services stop) and halts (request stops) and is rationalizing its network, adding halts to the station lists and downgrading less-used station into halts. As of February 2019, kimilil intends to eliminate most single platforms from the network. Design Manual :Main page: RTN Design Manual The design manual sets out guidelines of build standards that RTN wants to achieve. The manual classifies the infra into legacy, constrained, partial standard, and full standard. Based on the classification of existing and target builds, different specifications will be used. The specifications includes things like how to do curves, the gradients, and track and tunnel clearances. Besides that, general specifications are provided for things like viaducts, embankments, cut slopes, embankments, and station design. Notable design specification of RTN is the track curve and gradient, which kimilil specifies to be gradual. This is in contrast to RRC, where Ugultu stipulate to have 90° turns. RTquette In order to maintain best performance of the network, users should observe the following etiquette: #Place your minecart at the sloped unpowered powered rail, or at the unpowered powered rail that abuts a solid block. #When you disembark, remove the cart you just rode on. Do not leave carts on the track. #When riding on a single track stretch through a mob-infested area, prepare a splash potion of harming in case a mob is blocking the track ahead. In the event of you bouncing off a mob and sent back the way you came, do not abandon your minecarts. Wait until your cart stops at the next stop, remove your cart, and try again. #Don't temper with unpowered powered rails by placing redstone power source. Most of the time they're there to stop or slow you down a bit for several reasons. Only use the provided redstone components as intended. #You will be made aware of any request stops (halts) ahead. When approaching a halt, the carts will slow down to allow you to press a button to stop at that halt. Carefully aim and press the buttons as instructed. Trivia *RTN considers the following railways as compatible with its own infrastructure in that the tracks are physically connected and carts can go through between any two: **(formerly) Steamer Line **Northeast Railway with Random Line **Canabai National Railways (formerly Southwest Railway) with Templer line (and formerly Outer Line) **(Planned) TransCon South with South Line *For a short time, RTN used to mean Rural Transit Network. North Line's Port station has a remnant of this in the from of display text commands at the fare gates. *Despite RRC's claims of doing things the Japanese way, RTN has in fact a lot more common with said ways and was way earlier in doing so. This include things such as having line colours and station numbering pretty early on (ca. 2014 vs RRC's 2019) and having through services into lines of other operators as listed above (RRC still has none as of 2019, only an instance of 2 services sharing the same tracks which it owns, similar to Peridot/Icarus of CNR). Network Diagram *Link to PDF version See also *UC Subway *Athyras Tramways *Northeast Railway *Canabai National Railways *Canabai Transit System *Port Random Transit *Redstone Railway Company *Sanostonburg Railway Authority Category:Infrastructure Category:Railways